The Information Needs of Communities: The Changing Media Landscape in a Broadband Age

Abstract

In 2009, a bipartisan Knight Commission found that while the broadband age is enabling an information and communications renaissance, local communities in particular are being unevenly served with critical information about local issues. Soon after the Knight Commission delivered its findings, The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) initiated a working group to identify crosscurrents and trends, and make recommendations on how the information needs of communities can be met in a broadband world.

Steven Waldman and the FCC Working Group on the Information Needs of Communities produced this report, addressing the rapidly changing media landscape in a broadband age. The Information Needs of Communities looks not only at the changing face of media, but also at the relevant policy and regulatory situations, including the track record of the FCC. Finally, the report offers policy suggestions to help create the best media system ever seen.